N54 Motor Oil Debate-Best

[sbefar01]

I know you guys have some favorite motor oils, but does anyone have have HARD DATA that would support choosing between the following oils- best for the N54 engine:

[MadMan77]

Besides using OEM BMW branded Castrol oil you will not find much "HARD DATA" to support any claims.

If you would like some data from oil anaysis' you can check out www.bobistheoilguy.com (BITOG) and search for N54 oil samples. Of course all of that information is subjective to their motor, how they drive the car, how many cold starts, etc....

[bluemoon]

I've been using Valvoline SynPower. The extent of my research was finding it listed as one of BMW's recommended oils.

[mbrunner]

Coming from an STI, Mobil 1 is the last oil you want to be running in a turbocharged engine. But that may be for the subaru... Once I get my 1-series I am going to start off with German Castrol and have a 3-4k mile change and maybe check out mobil 1 again on this car.

Of course, this will include sending them off for testing

[AchtungF80]

I've read reports that the European Formula Castrol is awesome in that it has more something more concentrated than other "Full Synthetic" formulas. I've ran Euro Castrol 0W30 in both my 350z and now my 135i.

I may switch over the BMW Synthetic oil at 5k.

[sbefar01]

This was actually informative from Redline, although marketing . . . . http://www.redlineoil.com/products_m...1&categoryID=1

[MadMan77]

Originally Posted by mbrunner

Coming from an STI, Mobil 1 is the last oil you want to be running in a turbocharged engine. But that may be for the subaru... Once I get my 1-series I am going to start off with German Castrol and have a 3-4k mile change and maybe check out mobil 1 again on this car.

Of course, this will include sending them off for testing

I am right there with you on the Mobil 1. I ran Mobil 1 in my '04 STi and was sending in oil samples to Blackstone. The lead reading were always high which meant bearing wear since I did not use race fuel let alone anything leaded. I switched to German Castrol and the lead readings on my first sample with Castrol were below average wear readings for the EJ257 motor.

The moral of the story is that I will never touch Mobil 1 again.

[sbefar01]

Almost all people who are getting the Mobil 1 tested are not happy with the findings, no Mobil 1 for me.

[crzy4135i]

Originally Posted by sbefar01

Almost all people who are getting the Mobil 1 tested are not happy with the findings, no Mobil 1 for me.

That's because not all mobil 1 oils are the same.

I like 5W40 "turbo diesel truck" oil.

[crzy4135i]

Originally Posted by MadMan77

I am right there with you on the Mobil 1. I ran Mobil 1 in my '04 STi and was sending in oil samples to Blackstone. The lead reading were always high which meant bearing wear since I did not use race fuel let alone anything leaded. I switched to German Castrol and the lead readings on my first sample with Castrol were below average wear readings for the EJ257 motor.

The moral of the story is that I will never touch Mobil 1 again.

were you running mobil 5W30?

[Addict...Nah Im A Junkie!]

Since I've never had a BMW that was still under warranty before....Question:

Can they void my warranty if I change my own oil?

Oh, yeah. I've always used Mobil1 for both my M3 and M roadster and it's been good to me. Although I've never sent it away for analysis.

Maybe I'll try something new on the 1'er

[MadMan77]

Originally Posted by crzy4135i

were you running mobil 5W30?

Yes I was using Mobil 1 5W30.

[AchtungF80]

Originally Posted by Addict...Nah Im A Junkie!

Since I've never had a BMW that was still under warranty before....Question:

Can they void my warranty if I change my own oil?

Oh, yeah. I've always used Mobil1 for both my M3 and M roadster and it's been good to me. Although I've never sent it away for analysis.

Maybe I'll try something new on the 1'er

Just let them do every 3rd oil change (ie: 15k, 30k, 45k etc)

[AussieRacer]

I'll be swapping to Motul 8100 X-CLEAN (5W-40) this weekend. LL-04 approved. I use Moutl oil in my racecar with great success, so hopefully the 135 likes it too. :smile:

[sbefar01]

Noticing that most people are voting for only the approved oils for the 1. The question rather should be weather the Castrol, Mobile 1, or OEM oil are actually the highest quality for our vehicles?

[crzy4135i]

Originally Posted by sbefar01

Noticing that most people are voting for only the approved oils for the 1. The question rather should be weather the Castrol, Mobile 1, or OEM oil are actually the highest quality for our vehicles?

I would run german castrol if it wasn't so hard to find. The top three on the list are better but not worth the extra cost if you're changing it every 5k miles anyway, in my opinion. If you have the extra cash anyway.. I can understand why someone would run them.

[crzy4135i]

Originally Posted by sbefar01

Noticing that most people are voting for only the approved oils for the 1. The question rather should be weather the Castrol, Mobile 1, or OEM oil are actually the highest quality for our vehicles?

It really should be split up by which mobil 1. The specs of mobil 1 5w30 are nowhere near the 5w40.

[mikead_99]

The link MadMan77 posted is a good place to start. What would be ideal is to get people here to start sending in their samples and starting a sticky analysis thread here. There is huge value to sharing this data and takes the biases people have for favorites based on no real data out of the equation. For now I am going to go with the oem castrol, but if concrete data supporting one brand over the other is available, I will use it.

[Randall41]

At this point in time I am undecided. I have used Mobil-1 15-50 (Red Cap) in my E30M3 since 1993. Then the formula changed. If you use M-1 use the Gold Cap, no more Red Cap. Zinc has either been reduced or eliminated, causing cam and valve guide wear. The M-1 website suggests 0-40 when I entered the 135, then I entered the M3 and the same oil came up. I would never put 0-40 in the M3.
Leaning heavily toward Redline at this point.
By the way After break in I used BMW oil and after 2k miles changed the oil again using BMW synthetic.

[sbefar01]

I put in Royal Purple today to try it out for the first 5000 mi (it was free for me this time). Its not an approved oil so I will go for the Castrol Syn next time, just so I can sleep easier. Car feels silky smooth with the RP now.

[ChrisK]

Normally I am a big Mobil 1 fan, but since the oil change kit from United is so reasonable, i'm going to stick with BMW OEM (Castrol Syn).

I have always liked Castrol tooo, so this is a double bonus.

[MadMan77]

Originally Posted by Pirate

I did my first oil & filter change at 1,000 some miles. The original oil looked dark. I replaced it with BMW oil & filter. Then, because I don't have a dip stick, I loosend the drain plug to check it. It was very dark at only 2,500 miles total. It was total goo what drained out! I again changed the oil and filter. I used Mobil 1 5W-30 and BMW filter because I had 2 cases left from my Corvette.

I called both BMW and Castrol and neither guaranteed that the 5W-30 BMW oil was made by Castrol...huh? Castrol said that if it's not labelled Castrol it's not their product. Notice that the BMW M oils have the Castrol label, ours don't.

I've used Castrol GTX 5W-30 on my spouse's G35 and it stays clean up to the usual 3,000-mile routine oil & filter change.

German Castrol is 0W-30 so it is not approved by BMW's 5W-30 criteria.

Long oil story...we'll see...

Get used to seeing the oil dark. A turbo motor will never give you "clean" oil after a couple weeks of driving.